Tara Lannister
Tara Lannister is known to be the only child of Tyrion Lannister with his wife, Tysha, and niece to the twins Jaime and Cersei. She is a main character in Poison and Wine. She was born in the year 286 AL, and is 16 years old. She is 5"7, and weights 57 kg. 'Background' Tara Lannister is the daughter of Tyrion and Tysha, conceived during the couple of weeks they had together. After she was cast out, Tysha found herself pregnant and worried who’s child it might be after the rapes. But when the girl was born, she had Tyrion’s eyes, and she knew that she wasn’t in a position to raise the baby well. So she took Tara back to Casterly Rock, and left her at the gates. She would have been killed, had Tyrion not pointed out that the baby did indeed have his eyes, and as she was a Lannister from a marriage, she could hardly be killed in Tywin’s eyes. And so she was taken in. Tara’s childhood was fairly alright, her father played with her and taught her, and she was shielded by her own innocent eyes. However, as she grew older and started to resemble Tysha, Tyrion found it hard to even look at her, and avoided her a lot. She started picking up on things, like her family’s hatred of her, and how everyone would whisper about her. When she was thirteen, Cersei told her about her parentage, and how that tainted her. About a year or so before ‘Poison And Wine’ began, Tywin was desperate to stop Robb, and so sent out envoys with a proposal that he marry a Lannister. He never mentioned that it would be Tara, not wanting it to sour an already risky deal, but Robb refused. (This even put him back a few days, so he received news of his brothers soon after, further delaying his attack on the Crag, therefore further delaying meeting Jeyne, and not having a situation for her to ‘comfort’ him.) Tara was whipped for this, as if it was her personal failure, rather than beyond her control. 'Appearance' Tara has a few of her family traits, being fairly tall for a girl and having that Lannister gold hair. Her eyes however mirror one of her father’s, that of a dark brown –almost black- colour. Her skin is also slightly more tan-able than the rest of her family, no doubt form her mother’s side. Aside from colouring, Tara doesn’t resemble her family, and is said to be almost the image of the mother she never met. 'Personality' Tara has spent years baring the knowledge that her family hates her, and the rest of the world hates her family, therefore her as well. She feels like she doesn’t have a place she belongs, and that she has to find that, but she never will. She feels that she shouldn’t be trusted, as she’s a Lannister. All she wants is to please her family to begin with, and be accepted by them. She puts on a front that is very cool and dismissive, and has her father’s dry humour/wit, she is also rather clever like her father. Inside, Tara just seeks something she’s never really been openly given, affection, just to know that someone cares for her. But she pushes people away too often. 'Ambitions' At first, make her family see she is one of them, and make herself good in their eyes. Later, doing anything in her power to just be herself, no matter what or who tells otherwise. 'Strengths' Tara has a strong mind, and will solve a problem one she sets her mind to it. If she’s put you first in her priority list, she will see to it that you’re safe as she can make you. Tara can keep her head in a problem, if she’s thrust right into it. 'Weaknesses' She keeps people at arm’s length, and often thinks she can solve things and deal on her own. If she lets herself think too long about what she’s doing, she will freak out and back away. If she feels that she’s holding people back, or going to cause trouble, she’ll remove herself. Tara’s experiences growing up have left her more hardened and cynical than most 16 year old girls, and she often forget how young she really is. If she’s angered, she’ll forget herself and speak out of turn, something that lands her in trouble if doing it to the right person. 'Habits' Tara has a tendency to pull a mask of if she wants to hide what she’s feeling, or act like she’s all detached from it all. She’ll fiddle with her hair and just slightly avoid eye contact if nervous or lying. 'Relationships' 'Family' 'Tyrion Lannister' Tara and her father have a …strained relationship to say the least. Tyrion was a good dad to begin with, but as his daughter grew up, it was too painful as she reminded him of her mother, so he distanced himself. This was also a move to protect her, incase she was targeted to get to him. Tyrion still cares about his daughter, but isn’t sure how to show it. Tara wants to know why her dad ‘abandoned’ her, she managed to convince herself that she hated him and wanted nothing to do with him. When really, she just wanted his love again, and to know why he pulled away. 'Jaime Lannister' Jaime if the family member that Tara is closest with. He is the one that she goes to –when he’s around- with her problems, and for a long time she saw him as her father figure in life. Jaime is the only family member she feels loves her –which is mostly true really- he never treated her any differently from his other young relations, and he has a genuine soft spot for Tara. He advises her on a lot of things, and she trusts his council, except when he tells her not to be so harsh on her dad. 'Cersei Lannister' While Tywin views Tara as something he’d rather do without, Cersei actually hates her niece. She’s the daughter of the brother she hates, with a whore, anything Cersei can do to bring Tara down, she will. Cersei is a family member that Tara dislikes equally, and the two of them have never once resolved that. Tara wonders why her aunt blames her for things she had no control over, but Cersei’s hate is so engrained now, to her it’s natural. 'Friends' 'Dian Tully' Tara rescues Dian from King’s Landing, only really to use the girl as a way to get into the Stark camp, and bargain for her family, having done them a kindness. Because of her lack of trust in others, becoming friends with Dian is a hard thing, But as she’s the only girl close to her age –or really, just the only girl- in the camp, they are put together in a lot of situations, and Tara is forced to start having to trust her a little. Gradually though, the girls do become real friends, going through a lot of hard times together, and understanding the other better. Dian becomes one of few people Tara will list as people she cares about and would do anything for. 'Love Interest' 'Robb Stark' Things between Tara and Robb start off as they would for any Stark/Lannister, mistrust and dislike. Robb is suspicious of her, and she doesn’t exactly have much to say to him, not exactly blaming him for the scars of the whipping, but unable to think about much else when with him. Gradually, as time passes and his suspicion of her eases to curiosity, Robb starts to fall for Tara. She begins to love him too, but knows that he’s already engaged, and also a Stark –therefore not a good Lannister match. She puts the most barriers up between them, but their relationship works well. He’s happy to wait for her, and accommodate for her past and the marks that leaves on her now, and she’s finally got someone who loves her because of herself and because he had no family obligation to.